ETFs
US SEC’s Gensler shrugs at the prospect of new ETH ETFs coming through his agency’s doors
Approval of new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for Ethereum ether (ETH) is a logical next step after the regulator previously approved Bitcoin spot ETFs, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler appeared to suggest twice on Wednesday.
Despite the crypto industry widespread belief that Gensler’s SEC planned to block the ETH spot ETF before reversing course and granting the first stage of applications, the head of the agency quickly described its ongoing approval process as if it were was a fortuitous affair, echoing each other in two separate interviews. – during an appearance on CNBC and on the sidelines of an International Swaps and Derivatives Association/Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association event.
“Ethereum had been trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for over three years. And the staff looked at that closely, and it was approved,” Gensler said in the television interview. “Now the underlying exchange-traded products (ETPs) still need to go through a process to be disclosed on this. It will take a while, but they are working on it right now.”
He later told reporters that SEC staff had approved ETF applicants’ Form 19b-4s “because four months earlier, at the commission level, we had approved Bitcoin exchange-traded products.”
His updates did not reflect the drama associated with this major moment for the digital assets sector, which would follow the January approval of the first Bitcoin spot ETFs that were already redefining the status of (BTC) as a commercial asset. Gensler’s tone, however, matches another of his recent appearances, in which he indicated that once the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals alongside Grayscale against the SECthe regulator’s hand was forced when it came to such ETF approvals.
“We do this in accordance with the law and the way the courts interpret the law, and that’s what I’m deeply committed to,” Gensler said. said two weeks agoafter seeing on stage at the event that the agency is trying to act in accordance with the court’s decision.
This position would suggest that the SEC was going to approve ETH ETFs from the beginning, just like BTC.
Additionally, despite Gensler’s seemingly optimistic explanation of the current process with ETH applications, his comments left a key question still unanswered: he said it would “take some time,” but when will this approval could the final take place? The precise answer does not seem clear so far.
Some expect that funds, which would directly hold real ETH and could be easily traded at any time, just like other ETFs, will emerge. this month or next.
Aside from his apparent openness on ETF applications, Gensler on Wednesday reiterated his usual warnings regarding the crypto industry and its lack of required public disclosures.
He said on CNBC that many tokens “failed to provide you with the information you not only need to make your investment decisions, but also those required by law.”
When asked by reporters if he personally believed ether was a security, he highlighted the fact that entrepreneurs and executives speak at conferences to promote their projects (while heeding his usual admonition not to talk about any specific assets).
“These are the indicia of security,” he said, reiterating his earlier statement about legally required disclosures. “Additionally, you have so-called crypto exchanges that mix and match functions where you, the investing public, do not have proper congressional protection provided in the laws.”
As a result, the industry faced various bankruptcies and frauds, he said.
While Gensler said Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper on bitcoin could have been “innovative,” Gensler said, “this is a fairly centralized area, which has not lived up to the vision , Nakamoto’s vision when there are only a small handful of cryptographic intermediaries in whom you entrust your money, your assets.